Here is a screenshot of a model that I’ve been making in XSI.  This is the XSI version of the famous “Joan of Arc” tutorial.  I had to do the body portion of the tutorial twice, but the second time produced smoother results.  If I finish the entire tutorial, which is excellent but very long and complex, I will need to make Joan’s hands, ears, and all the pieces of her armor.  Then, I’ll need to UV unwrap all of her accessories, paint textures for them, and assign appropriate materials to each of her body parts.  Lastly, I’ll rig her for animation by building a skeleton of bones and chains inside of her body.  The complexity of this process shows just how involved character design can be when one designs one’s own art assets, but it is very satisfying to watch a single cube slowly be extruded and shifted until it forms a human body.